Where the Pasture Ends
by moonxdawson
Summary: She grew up most of her life in the busy city of Miami. She's forced to move to a small town in North Carolina when her dad moves his job and he tells her she needs a attitude check. This town will supposedly give her just what she needs according to her dad. Little does she know, what she needs is the strict Christian boy next door who immediately hates her. Or does he? /AU Auslly
1. Chapter 1

**A/N so here it is, my new story 'Where the Pasture Ends.' This story is completely AU and Ally is very OOC, as well as Dez but everybody else will be mostly in character as they are in the show expect Austin on certain things. I've been really obsessed with Footloose lately and so that movie has a pretty big influence on the story, especially with some future chapters. You will notice I do not name the town Ally and Lester move to in this first chapter, and that's mainly because I want to introduce the town itself in another chapter.**

**Alrighty I think that's a long enough A/N so here we go…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize.**

* * *

She stares out the car window, her face pressed against the glass. Her fingers absentmindedly draw circles on her bare leg where her shorts don't cover. Letting out a sigh, her lips curve into a small smile for the first time in a week as she draws on the window where her breath fogged up the glass.

Currently she's not the happiest of people. Not even a week ago, she had been told the awful news that she would be moving out of state. To a place she never wished to see again.

No more Miami, Florida for Ally Dawson. She's moving to North Carolina. She's moving to her past.

It's her worse nightmare. All the memories she had forgotten. Had blocked out of her mind. She didn't want to remember them.

Her mind keeps flashing back to when her father Lester told her they were moving.

"_Hey Ally." He says as she walks into Sonic Boom their music store. "We need to talk."_

_She looks at her dad with curiosity not quite sure what he's up to, but obeys and walks over to him. "What's up dad?" she asks hopping onto the counter. _

"_Your attitude is what's up." He tells her bluntly. _

_To say her jaw dropped would not be an understatement. Sure she knew her attitude wasn't the greatest and could use so adjustment, but she never thought her dad would say anything about it._

"_What about my attitude?" she snapped, rolling her eyes knowing exactly what her father was talking about._

"_This attitude you got when your mom passed." She winced as he spoke of her mother passing. She'd prefer not to talk about it. "Ally, we're fixing this attitude and I know exactly how."_

_She raises and eyebrow, and fakes a yawn while looking at her nails. Obviously not wanting to have this conversation. Honestly she's a bit scared of what her father's about to say, he usually is never hard on her, so this is most definitely different. _

"_We're moving." He states._

"_What the hel-" she starts only to be cut off._

"_Out of state."_

"_What about the store?" she asks._

"_Honey, I'm moving the store out of state. We're going home."_

_She looks at him in confusion, and gives an awkward chuckle. But her eyes are wide and panicked. Slowly she starts backing away, her hand flying to her mouth. _

"_No!" she shouts her voice ridged. "No, I'm not going back to that hell hole!"_

But here she is now. In the car five minutes away from their destination. She's been trying to think back when they lived here before, but she can't remember for the life of her.

They're driving down a road, and she actually recognizes it. It's the exact road they used to live on. There's anywhere between an acre or more of land between all the houses, and she smiles slightly because the houses aren't placed right on top of the other like in her old development.

Closing her eyes, she tries to focus on a memory of anything from living here, but all she can remember is she loved living around farms. She _loved_ seeing nothing but acres and acres of pastures, not being able to see where the pasture ends.

She opens her eyes, and is once again looking out the window. But now she has a smile across her face. All she sees is farmland, and it reminds her of her mother. But for once, it's not a bad memory like what she usually has.

It's a good memory, of when she and her mother would just sit in an open field all day, and do nothing but lie out in the sun and cloud watch. But then she's frowning again. She misses her mother.

Focusing once again on what's outside the window, she spots a farm. It seems familiar? But she can't quite figure out why.

She spots somebody outside. He's throwing a frisbee to his dog. From what she can tell he can't be any older than her. The sun bounces off his blonde hair, and she sees him laughing and she can tell he has a beautiful smile.

The muscles in his arm, flex as he tosses the frisbee once again, and oh my god she's swooning over a boy she's never met. But man, does she want to meet him and his cutoff plaid shirt, and oh those jeans that fit his butt just _perfectly_ from what she can see. And _damn_ those cowboy boots he's wearing. Maybe, moving back won't be such a bad thing.

Soon enough she's broken out of her trance of staring at the boy, as her father turns into the driveway of the house across the road from where the boy is. She recognizes the house almost immediately, and she isn't sure why this memory floods her mind so quickly.

And then it hits her. It's their house. The house she lived in till she was eight. But that's all she can remember about the house, and the area.

"Ally, we're here." She hears her dad say.

Nodding she opens her door, and gets out of the car. Looking over her shoulder she sees the blonde boy, had stopped throwing the frisbee, and froze looking over at her car.

He's a good while away so she can't make out his facial features to see his reaction, but she thinks he looks shocked? Before she can over think his staring too much, he drops the frisbee and runs inside his house.

"Ally?" her father questions coming up beside her.

"Huh?" she says coming out of her daze, causing her father to chuckle.

"Come on, let's go inside, and unpack everything. And then tomorrow I want to take you to see somebody."

* * *

They're walking across the street to the house next door with the farm where Ally had seen the blonde boy. She's not entirely sure why, her father just told her he wanted to go see the neighbors. He probably knows them from when he was in high school or something.

She's absentmindedly picking at her nails as her father knocks on the door. She notices a monogrammed 'M' on the front door, so she guesses the family's last name starts with an 'M.'

They hear a muffled _'Hang on!'_ from behind the door, and Ally pulls her skirt up a little to make it appear shorter because that voice obviously belonged to a teenage male. Now Ally wasn't a slut, whore whatever you wanna call it, but she was most definitely a flirt when it comes to the opposite sex.

She'd _never_ admit it, but even though she was one of the most popular girls at her school in Miami, she's barely even kissed by a guy. But she sure could fake it like she's been _really_ kissed when any of her friends asked. It's _all_ about of the attitude.

A few seconds later the door opens revealing the blonde she had seen outside. Smirking, she eyes him up and down bluntly checking him out. His plaid cutoff shirt is now unbuttoned and his hair is wet, so he's obviously had a shower

"Hey, can I help y'all?" he asks his southern accent coming through.

She can't figure out why, but this seems so familiar to her. This house does. Surely it's just because it's just across the street from her old house that she's living in again apparently.

"Is your dad here?" she hears her father respond, and sees the nameless boy nod and then go off somewhere.

Soon enough the boy's back, this time with a man she presumes is his father. They look alike she muses. Expect the older male's hair is grey, while the younger's is bright blonde.

She sees her father and the older man greet each other, before doing what could be considered a manly hug. She stands there awkwardly for a moment still picking at her nails, before she turns to the blonde.

"Hi, I'm Ally." She says stretching her hand out. "Obviously our fathers must know each other."

He looks at her questioningly, but shakes her hand anyways. "Wait, don't you re-" and before he finishes his sentence his father is whispering something in his ear, to which whatever he had said shocked him as his jaw dropped, and he looked slightly hurt?

"Austin." He responds as he lets go of her hand. And then he turns to his dad the same hurt expression on his face. "Hey, dad I'm gonna go brush Sadie."

She watches as he walks off towards where the barn must be? And notices he's kicking the ground, he definitely seems upset for some reason. But why was it he suddenly seemed upset when she introduced herself?

Does he not want to know her? She inwardly scoffs. Everybody wants to know Ally Dawson.

"Hey, Ally why don't you go with Austin so I can talk to Mike here." She hears her father and then she actually scoffs, but walks where she saw Austin walk off anyways.

She spots him a few yards away, but instead of brushing whoever Sadie was like he told his dad –who's apparently named Mike- he would be doing, he's stacking bales of hay. From what she can tell he's muttering stuff under his breath to himself and is fairly upset.

Ignoring how his muscles flex every time he grabs the hay and throws it on the stack, she walks over to him. She awkwardly coughs trying to get his attention, but is ignored.

"You know _this_ isn't what you told your dad you'd be doing?" she asks rhetorically.

"Oh really _sweetheart_?" he says turning around sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I thought that I was brushing a horse right now."

She raises an eyebrow, and places her hands on her hips and just stares him down with a glare that could kill. Ignoring the glare he goes into the barn grabs a brush and stars brushing the mane of a tall brown and white horse.

"Okay, _farm boy_ what is your problem?"

He scoffs, "Nothing that concerns you."

Rolling her eyes she walks off, back across the street to her house. And has her dad asks where she's going; she just ignores him and continues walking. She swings the front door open, only to slam it back closed.

Never, _never _has anybody ever treated her like that. He couldn't even answer her simple question of what his problem was. And yet this 'problem' only appeared after she introduced herself and that didn't make any sense to her.

Walking into her room she strips off her shirt immediately, and grabs an old hoodie. The hoodie was her dad's, it was big and comfy. She much preferred it over the tight skirts and dresses she wears everyday. Sliding off her skirt, she grabs some yoga shorts and slips them on as well.

Going into her bathroom, she pulls her hair up into a ponytail, and washes her face free of makeup. Taking out her contacts, she grabs her glasses and puts them on and then looks at herself.

Not once has ever not liked her own reflection. But for some reason, she doesn't find herself liking it so much right now. She knows she needs to work on her attitude, but she just hasn't ever been able to change it for some reason, and she's not sure why.

Sighs and shaking her head, she walks into her grabs her book and then goes outside to sit on the front porch. She looks subconsciously over to where she knows the barn across the street is and spots Austin.

Instead of brushing the horse –Sadie is her name she thinks, if she heard Austin correctly- he's riding her. And he's smiling again.

She smiles slightly at the sight. He obviously enjoys being around his family's animals. But then she's confused once again, as soon as she's gone he's perfectly fine and doesn't seem to be upset.

He just met her, and he already hates her. She's not sure why but she feels hurt knowing that he possibly hates her, and she doesn't even know anything about this boy other than his name is Austin and he lives next door.

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**Reviews are sorta cool.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Can I just say I love all of y'all? This is the most responses I have ever received for one of my stories on the first chapter. And I'm so excited that y'all are so excited for this story because honestly I think it's going to be one of my best if I say so myself. Anyways in the summary you probably saw it says STRICT CHRISTIAN boy aka Austin. So in this chapter you will see why I said that, now remember Footloose is a massive influence in this story, so what you see on the outside might not be what somebody's actually like. Wink, wink. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally.**

* * *

It's the next day, an early Sunday morning and once again Ally finds herself on the front porch swing. Subconsciously she keeps looking over at Austin's house. Every time she notices herself doing it, she turns back to her book quickly only to have her eyes travel back to his house.

Checking the time, she sees that it's barely past eight and she honestly has no clue why she's awake already. She's not even writing anything down in her book, and it's been sitting in her lap the whole twenty minutes she's been outside.

She's still trying to figure out why everything here seems so _familiar_. She couldn't sleep at all last night dreams or flashbacks of what was possibly from when she used to live here kept going through her mind. But, it made no sense why.

She could have sworn she saw her mother in the flashbacks. But she doesn't really remember her mother, she didn't want to. Nobody could ever understand why she _purposely_ forgot all the memories from ever living here. Even her father didn't.

And then there was Austin. There was just _something_ about him.

In the flashbacks or dreams, whatever they were there was also a little blonde boy running around along side her younger self. His hair is the exact color of Austin's she quickly realized.

Her mind is racing with possible thoughts of what these flashbacks could mean. Why was her mom possibly there? Why the heck was there a little boy with the color of Austin's hair there?

Suddenly she can't take the thoughts anymore. She screams in frustration, her fingers raking through her hair. She stares down at her book hard, almost like she's trying to burn a whole on the empty page.

Hearing a creak from the wood on the porch her head shoots up. And she's most certainly shocked by who's standing there.

"Hey," she hears the blonde say, his attractive southern accent coming through. "You okay?"

"What does it matter to you?" she snaps, rolling her eyes.

He sighs and goes to sit down beside her cautiously, not sure if she's going to give him more attitude or not. She's just now noticing he has a guitar case on his back, so she wonders where he could be going on a Sunday morning with a guitar.

"You know," he begins, a soft smile playing on his lips. "It's the gentleman like thing to do to check on a girl who's clearly upset."

"It's nothing…" she says trying to get him to leave. But in the back of her mind she hears a voice telling her to keep him here somehow. Don't let him leave quite yet. Continue to talk to him.

Ever since Friday when she and her dad first arrived back in town, and she first noticed Austin she's felt this pull to him. It's a strange feeling, she's just met the kid yesterday but she feels drawn to him.

She wants to get to know him better. She's going to make sure they become friends at least. Even though she's not sure if he's even the biggest fan of her right now thanks to the attitude she gave him yesterday, she just wants to become friends with him for some reason.

He nods his head at her and begins to get up, only to feel a small hand on his wrist. He raises his eyebrows in question, but makes no move to remove her hand.

"Where are you going?" she asks. "Why do you have a guitar?"

Chuckling softly, he adjusts the guitar on his back before replying. "I'm in the praise band at church. I play guitar and sing. You should come by and check out the church one Sunday morning. Speaking of church I have to leave to make it on time for praise rehearsal before service."

Her face drops as she hears he has to go. But the smile he's giving her as he walks away makes her heart slightly flutter, and she's not entirely sure why. She only wants to become friends with him. Nothing more and nothing less, and yet something's telling her something's going to happen between them.

"Bye Austin." She says, waving at him.

"See ya Ally."

* * *

She continually runs her hands over her skirt, trying to make the skirt not look too short. After all she is walking into church right now.

A few minutes after Austin had left, her father had came and told her they'd be going to church and later to lunch with the Moons –which she learned is Austin's last name. She's still not completely sure how her father and Austin's father know each other. But that's the least of her worries.

Right now, she just needs to make sure she makes a good first impression for everybody at the church. And as she pulls down on her skirt one last time before they're fully in the building, she concludes looking like a slut while walking into church won't make too good of impressions on everybody.

Looking up at the stage as she obediently follows her father to where the Moons are sitting, she spots Austin. He's tuning an acoustic guitar that must have been the one he was carrying around earlier.

While they wait for the service to start, she looks around the building. She sees a good bit of people, but there's not too many. She muses it's a rather small church, but it only makes sense for the church to be small since it resides in such a small town.

Soon enough she hears music beginning and follows suit as everybody stands. This is different she decides. She can't honestly remember the last time she was actually in church. It had to be from when she lived here before.

She's not really paying any attention until she hears somebody start singing. When she sees it's Austin singing, something in her chest tightens almost painfully.

His voice is strong and prominent. It's like something she's never quite heard before. She's shocked when she realizes his voice doesn't sound country at all –and with his deep southern accent she didn't think that was possible.

Smiling slightly her eyes still trained on Austin, she claps to the music along with the rest of the congregation. All too soon, she realizes the music is over and the preacher's coming to do the actual sermon now.

She feels a presence beside her in what was an empty seat. Looking over she sees Austin. He must have sensed she was looking at him, because he looked over at her and sent her a small smile. And she could have sworn there was some familiarity in that smile.

* * *

She learned his name is Austin Moon, his middle name is Monica, and he likes pancakes. Correction he _loves_ pancakes. He's a junior in high school. Music and dancing are his hobbies.

Currently he's the starting pitcher on the high school's varsity baseball team. He looks like a baseball player she muses.

His mother is the one telling her about him. Disappointing Ally he hadn't come to their lunch with the Moons. He went to eat with his friends is what his mother Mimi had told her.

She wasn't too sure if he was actually with his friends. She was becoming slightly convinced he was doing anything to get out of spending time with her. More like spending time with her and her attitude. Their two encounters they've had with each other always had her attitude coming out at some point.

Reluctantly she told Mimi about herself.

Her name is Ally Dawson, she won't tell her middle name ever, and her absolute favorite food is pickles. She's also a junior in high school. And she loves music and it's her hobby, but she can't dance to save her life.

Strangely enough, she feels an automatic connection to Mimi and tells her. Mimi replies telling her how a lot of Austin's friends look at her as their second mother, and tells her she's welcome to do so if she would like.

When she sees her get quiet when being a second mother is mentioned, Mimi confesses she knows about her mother. And Ally's not quite sure if she's shocked, relieved, or curious as to why Mimi knows.

"How do you and Mr. Moon know my dad?" she asks the older women timidly, and as she Mimi sends her a reassuring smile she's not sure why she was so scared to ask the question. But maybe it's not the question she fears, but the answer.

"We've been friends with your parents for a long time." The blonde tells her. "Mike and myself –and Austin as well actually- were there when you were born."

She nods absentmindedly, but stops talking as soon as the confession left Mimi's lips. She's not entirely sure how she feels about knowing that information. And now she knows for sure; it was the answer she feared and not the actual question.

There's this split second where she wonders if the boy in her flashbacks or dreams –she still hasn't decided which it was- was actually Austin. But she pushes the thought to the back of her head. She's not sure if she wants to know the answer.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, she steps through the doors of the school. She's nervous, _definitely_ nervous. It's always hard and awkward being the new kid.

She walks to the office to get her schedule, and surprisingly to her they give her a fellow student who shares most of the same classes as her to show her where everything is. She releases a sigh of relief when she hears it's not Austin but a girl named Cassidy.

Seeing a rather tall girl, with dirty blonde hair she figures it's Cassidy and is proven right when said girl asks the secretary what she did and says her name. And Ally can tell she's beyond relieved when she finds out it's just a part of her job since she's on the student council.

They walk in silence as Cassidy shows her the locker she'll be residing in for the little bit that's left of the school year, before the taller of the two decides to break the awkward silence.

"So you're new here…"

"Listen, this doesn't have to be awkward." Ally tells her, laughing slightly at how awkward she was being to start conversation.

Cassidy chuckles softly at her bluntness, but agrees it shouldn't be awkward. "So if you don't mind me asking, why did you move? Who would want to even live here?"

She opens her mouth and then closes it. She can't quite figure out what to say, so she decides to be totally honest. "My dad said I needed an attitude check, and this is where we lived when I was a kid to answer your question about why here."

Nodding her head Cassidy continues a conversation, and Ally decides she's definitely somebody she wants to be friends with. She's not like the girls she was friends with back in Miami.

In the midst of their conversation a third person joins in. And Ally learns she's one of Cassidy's friends. Trish.

And as she's talking to these two girls she concludes that it may not be as terrible moving back here. But who knows, it's only been two days after all and anything could change in the blink of an eye.

The three girls are laughing about somebody, when suddenly Ally runs into something. Or more like someone.

"Watch where you're going jerk." She mutters under her breath hoping the person wouldn't hear her. Truthfully she's pretty sure about who it is, but doesn't want to pick her head up from her gaze on the floor.

"What did you say to me?" _Shoot._ It's just who she thought it was.

Rolling her eyes, she steps away from him. Her gaze moves to look him in the eyes, his glare intense.

"I said 'Watch where you're going jerk.'" She spits out, glaring at him the entire time.

"First day and you think you rule the school hallways already." He scoffs, and points a finger at her as he speaks, "You need a reality check, sweetheart."

"Go milk a cow, or something farm boy." She says in return.

He laughs. _Laughs in her face._ And suddenly she's not sure his laugh is too beautiful anymore like she thought Friday when she saw him laughing outside.

She's confused because this isn't the Austin she's seen a couple times. Anytime they're not physically interacting, he's sweet. But the moment they're actually communicating he's a complete douche –well expect yesterday before church, he was fairly sweet then.

"'Go milk a cow?'" he asks still laughing. "That's your best insult? Wow… Yeah, I might be a farm boy, but at least I wasn't forced to move because I act like a slut and have a bad attitude."

It's a low blow. He _knows_. And he's even more aware of how low it was when he hears Cassidy hiss his name, her eyes silently telling him to stop.

And nobody questions why Austin knew why she had moved. Ally didn't even question it.

She was in far too much shock that somebody would actually speak to _her_, Ally Dawson like that. He watches as she steps forward, and winces as her hand comes in contact with his cheek. He was most definitely surprised that her slap was hard enough to leave a bruise, but he shows no sign of pain.

"I thought a gentleman was supposed to know when a girl's not okay, and to check on her?" she asks rhetorically, mocking him from what he had said the previous morning.

"Ally I-" he begins as she walks off and he's stopped by Cassidy.

"Don't Austin." She warns. "You've done enough. Go to class, I'll be most certainly talking to you later."

And as he sees Cassidy walk after Ally's retreating figure, the pain _finally_ hits him. But it wasn't from the slap.

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**Reviews are sorta cool.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Okay you guys, so here's chapter three. And also if you read my other story 'me and you' and were wondering why I'm updating this story more often; I'm working on an update for it too, but I've been having massive writers block for that story, while with this one I'm writing the next chapter immediately after I publish a chapter. So please just hang in there on an update for 'me and you' for a little bit longer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize.**

* * *

It's a few days after the _'incident'_ with Austin, and Ally has been avoiding him as much as she can. Cassidy and Trish had been helping her out as much as they could in avoiding Austin, but beggars can't be choosers and Ally just so happens to have most classes with Austin, Cassidy and Trish.

Originally she had planned to try and become friends with Austin, but now it seems he definitely doesn't want that. And it's hurting her thinking he _doesn't_ want anything to do with her.

She's not entirely sure why it hurts, but she thinks it might be because usually anybody and everybody wants to be friends with Ally Dawson. But her two new girl friends aren't too sure if that's why it's hurting her.

After school the day of the _'incident'_, Ally knows Cassidy had talked to Austin about what had happened. She didn't give Ally any details about what they talked about, she just let her know they had talked.

Tonight's Thursday night, and she's going to the high school's baseball game with Trish and Cassidy. And it seems like God isn't on her side, because of course Austin's the star pitcher and Cassidy claims they never miss a game.

So thanks to them talking her into it; she's going to suck it up and go to the game. But on the bright side she at least does honestly enjoy watching baseball. And it's not only because the guys are in tight pants.

She just genuinely likes the sport itself. But the guys in the pants are _not_ a downside one bit.

And so thanks to her father finding out she's going to the game, he's having the Moon family take her since it would be a ten minute drive out of the way for both Cassidy and Trish to pick her up. But riding with the Moons means she's going to be at the game an hour earlier, because apparently Austin's truck broke down so his parents actually have to drive him.

Sitting on her porch she waits for one of the Moons to motion her over. She sees a car pulling into their driveway and leaving a minute later. There are two little kids –a boy and girl- running from where the car was previously, and they're rushing straight towards the house.

Hearing a squeal she looks to where the two kids had ran and saw Austin. He had apparently picked up the girl and threw her over his shoulder. The boy was holding onto Austin's leg while Austin tried to walk.

She couldn't help the small smile forming on her face as she watched Austin play around with the little kids while in his baseball uniform. This is the Austin she wanted to possibly become friends with, not the douche Austin he's constantly acting like around her.

"Hey Ally come on over, we're about to leave." She hears Mimi say from the across the street.

It had caught Austin's attention what Mimi had just said and he froze. He hadn't even noticed Ally sitting there. And yet she had been staring at him and he didn't even notice. He's usually very observant, so this shocked him that he didn't see her.

Walking across the street, Ally awkwardly avoids Austin's gaze as she goes to Mimi and talks to her. He can't hear their conversation but can tell it's nothing important.

"Who is that?" he hears whispered in his ear.

"Oh that's Ally," Austin says to the little girl over his shoulder. Upon hearing her name, said girl looks over and gives the small girl a wave and smile, causing the corners of Austin's mouth to twitch up slightly.

"She's really pretty." The girl replies.

Looking at the teenage girl he notices she's wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. And very minimal make up. It's the simplest way anybody could look, but for some reason it's his favorite way Ally's looked since she first came over to his house Saturday.

"Yeah…" he breathes out, barely noticing he's been staring at Ally _much longer_ than what is considered appropriate. "Really pretty."

* * *

When they arrive to the game Austin's rushing to get to the dugout, muttering something about being scared that he's late and that won't look good as captain of the team if he is. Mimi chuckles softly, while shaking her head at her son's worriment but makes no comment because she knows he isn't late at all.

On the ride to the game, Ally learned the two little kids are named Travis and Scarlett and they're Mimi's niece and nephew that she watches for her sister at least three times a week. She quickly figured out that Scarlett is the more outgoing of the two twins, but Travis is almost just as outgoing.

Scarlett didn't hesitate to tell Ally proudly that she was named after Scarlett O'Hara from the classic movie _Gone with the Wind_. She explained how her mother wishes for her to be a strong southern belle like Scarlett from the movie when she grows up, and that's why she was named that.

There had been a quiet comment that had caught Ally's attention on the ride over when Scarlett had said the stuff about the character. Austin had muttered something that sounded like _'Yeah, but you better not end up flirting with and marrying a bunch of guys like some girls do.' _but she's guessing only she had heard it. She could tell Austin was looking at her when he said it, and she wasn't sure how to feel.

She's just so confident the guy is set on hating her she doesn't know what to do. There's a part of her that knows something will eventually make them friends, but until then they'll just remain social in front of everybody.

"Ally!" she hears being yelled and sees Cassidy and Trish running towards her. And she's just noticing they've been at the ballpark for a good thirty minutes already, but she was too lost in her thoughts to realize. She gives them a small wave and smile as she meets them halfway.

They give her waves and smiles and then their faces fall slightly as they see what she's wearing. She looks down at herself and then quirks an eyebrow at them.

"Uh, is there a problem?"

"Oh, no!" Cassidy assures her, but tilts her head and releases a puff of air looking at Ally's outfit once again. Ally's beginning to question if everything is alright… "Do you have a jacket?"

"No…" she says awkwardly.

"Maybe it won't get too cold and you won't need one." Trish tells her, with a soft chuckle. "It's just the games get cold since they don't end until usually nine, and it is March so… We'll find you one if you get cold."

Ally laughs shaking her head at them. Surely she won't get too cold. Rolling her eyes and hooking arms with the two other girls', they walk over to the Moons.

* * *

The temperature had dropped. Ten degrees. She's learned North Carolina weather is bipolar.

It'll be warm during the day and then cold at night. She didn't like this weather right now, because it's causing her to do something she doesn't want to do.

She had asked Mimi for a jacket, but the older female had told her she didn't pack any extra. But of course, Austin happened to have a spare or two.

Austin. Austin's jacket. She's going to be wearing _his_ jacket –if he allows her to of course. Her heart just skipped a beat for some reason.

Cassidy and Trish would have been an option to ask for a jacket, but they had to leave the game early. Stupid homework.

Walking to the dugout her arms are awkwardly crossed over her chest. And she's _guessing_ some of her cleavage is being pushed up by the positioning of her arms, because all the baseball players outside the dugout are staring.

Coughing awkwardly as she gets to the entrance of the dugout, she catches the attention of a tall redhead. He gives her an odd look, but nevertheless walks over to her.

"Can I help you?" he asks his voice dripping with excitement and a slight pant from playing.

"Yeah… I need to ask Austin," she starts saying, going on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder and points awkwardly at the blonde near his bat bag. "a question." she finishes going back to regular height.

He nods at her, giving her a soft smile and chuckle. He calls Austin over with a quick 'Moon, a girl wants you.' and as soon as said boy walks over, he leaves the pair alone.

"So you have a question?" he asks her, and he can already tell what her question is by her shivering. A slight smirk forms across his face, but goes away as quick as it had came noticing the looks the other guys were giving her.

There's an almost protective like feeling that rushes through him as he runs to his bat bag to get a jacket for her. The second he looks up from zipping the zipper on the bag he notices them staring more, _and more_. And he _can't_ help it when he rushes back over to the short brunette.

He lays the jacket across her shoulders and gives her a soft smile, which she returns. Her breath catches in her throat as she realizes how close he is to her face.

"Hi…" she whispers, her breath ghosting over his face. His gaze is intense, but she realizes this is the Austin she wants to know. The one who's already stopping prying eyes from looking at her.

This feeling of being watched over by somebody obviously very caring, feels familiar. And she just _wishes_ Austin would have showed her this side the first time they met.

But then she remembers they've only known each other since Saturday, and it's only Thursday. Maybe he'll show her this side more often if she gets to know him better. So maybe she still wants to become friends him after all…

"Hey." he replies, his finger pushing back a stand of hair that had fallen into her face. And as she feels the rough calluses on his finger tips, -from pitching one too many baseballs she muses- she decides this is familiar somehow.

"Moon you're on deck!" they hear his coach yell, and it breaks them from their trance. Adjusting the jacket she mutters something quick about leaving, and begins walking off.

And as she walks off, she hears the redhead make a comment about a letterman jacket. And really liking this girl. And you better not mess up this game because she's here.

Sure enough, when she looks down she notices she's wearing a letterman jacket. And when she looks back and sees 'Moon' embroidered on it, she inwardly gasps.

She had just wanted a jacket. Not his letterman jacket. And she most definitely didn't want to have a moment with Austin.

There was a quick moment when she had wondered why he made such a rush to get her a jacket. But then she remembered the other guys were staring at her. And now she's wearing Austin's letterman jacket, with his name embroidered on it.

It was as if he was claiming her as _his_. But he couldn't be making her unavailable to all other guys already could he? Half the time it seems like he hates her, so there's no way he's claiming her… But then at other times he doesn't seem like he hates her.

And oh god she's just _so_ confused.

Shaking her head, she tries to clear her head. And as she sees Scarlett running over to her she puts on a huge smile, completely ignoring what had just happened and listens to the seven year old babble about a bug she had just saw.

* * *

Sometimes you regret things. Other times you don't. She's not sure if she's regretting this idea or not.

She had made a rash decision of telling her dad she never wanted a job. She knew by her saying that he would force her to get one. But she also knew he wouldn't send her to a usual job.

And of course, she was correct.

Lester had sent her to work for the Moons on their farm. And it's all a part of Ally's plan.

After Thursday's baseball game two days ago, Ally had decided she most defiantly wants to know Austin. Whether he's a douche or not.

She _knows_ there's a side to Austin that's sweet, caring, and somewhat protective side. It's the side he showed her for a moment at the game, but it was gone as quick as it had come.

There's such a familiar feeling that flows through her veins with every encounter she's had with Austin. And she's set to learn why that is.

Sitting on a hay bale, she picks at her nails waiting for the blonde she's been thinking about to come to the barn for her first day of labor on the farm. Their last encounter had been the day before, and it involved Austin demanding back his letterman jacket. So yes, she was somewhat nervous for today.

She hears footsteps, and some dirt being kicked around and immediately knows it's Austin. There's a moment where the nerves go into hyper drive, before she sees him and her thoughts of what could go wrong stop short.

He's wearing something similar to what he was the first day she met him. Jeans, boots, cutoff. It's so simple, but it's just so… _Austin_ she muses. She couldn't deny it if she tried, she is attracted to the blonde. At least attracted to his looks.

"Okay," he starts off. "I don't mind being put in charge of you and your work on the farm, and show you how everything is done. But I just have to know you'll listen and do what I say. Can you do that?"

"Of course." she says with a roll of her eyes.

"Good." He says, a smirk forming across her face. "Now first thing… Let's go feed some chickens and fetch some eggs."

And as they walk towards the chicken coop Ally can't help but have a smirk of her own. If only Austin knew she was going to get him to be friends with her through this farm work… If only he knew.

* * *

**Reviews are sorta cool.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N yay update… So this chapter somewhat foreshadows some stuff in future chapters, so pay close attention to everything.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize. **

* * *

So maybe she didn't think this working on a farm thing through so well. It smells bad. There's dirt everywhere. Also it actually requires labor. And she had thought Austin would go easy on her, after all it is her first day.

But on the bright side she was enjoying watching Austin have to show her how to do everything.

He was very, hardworking she noticed. He never _didn't_ do something –even if it was something his parents didn't even tell him to do, he still did it. She somewhat admired that about him.

She had never done much work her entire life. Sure, she worked at Sonic Boom back in Miami every once in awhile, but that's _nothing_ compared to what she's seen Austin do.

Luckily though they don't seem to be doing too much work today, just some hard things or hard for her at least. And they're _finally_ on their last job of the day. They only have to water the horses. Easy enough.

Austin hands Ally a hose, silently telling her to fill one of the troughs with water while he does the one in front of him. He moves from the one trough to the third and final one, not even bothering to stop the spray of the water.

Apparently he should have turned the spray nozzle off, because the water sprays Ally right on her legs causing her to shriek. Turning to face him, she sends him a death glare, which makes his eyes widen.

"Now Ally," he begins. "Your attitude hasn't been that bad today, we don't need an outburst. It was just an accident. You know what an accident is right? When somebody does something that wasn't on purp-"

He stopped as water was sprayed all over his chest. Ally just simply smirked at him. "That was for pointing out my attitude you dick."

Squeezing the nozzle on his hose, he sprays her entire torso causing her to gasp. And then it's as if they can't get each other wet enough. Water was being sprayed all over the place. The horse's water from their troughs was being dumped onto the two teenagers.

Pointing downwards Austin sprays down at Ally's feet causing her to slip as she was walking towards him. Subconsciously as she falls she grabs onto Austin's wrist, causing him to fall along with her.

She lands on the ground releasing a grunt, feeling something cold and squishy underneath her. Austin lands on top of her, catching himself with his hands so he doesn't crush her with all his weight.

Opening her eyes, Ally's eyes meet Austin's. Their faces are so close. Close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips.

His eyes flash down to her lips quickly, and this action doesn't go unnoticed by Ally. If he only leaned down just a bit, then they could-

"_Austin! Ally! _What are you two doing in the mud?" they hear Mimi yell from the backdoor, and they look at each other before Ally quickly pushes Austin off of her and stands up.

Only then did it fully register in Ally's head that they were laying in mud like Mimi had said. She looks down and sees her white top completely soaking wet and covered in mud. Her mouth drops as she looks at Austin and hits his arm.

"Austin did it not register in that bleached head of yours, that I'm wearing a _white_ shirt before you sprayed me?" she asked yelling at him. "Stupid farm boy."

White shirt? What was the big deal? He didn't fully understand the question or why it was such a big deal until he looked at her. _Really_ looked at her. Why didn't he think of that before?

_White shirt. Wet. Orange bra. His favorite color. _

He coughs awkwardly, before looking at his mother who is fully amused by the situation. "Umm I should clean up. You too Ally. We're done with all the work for today."

"I'm gonna head home and yeah… clean up." She replies her head down as she begins walking.

"Wait Ally!" she hears Mimi yell from behind her. She turns around to face her, only to be met with a secretive and somewhat sorry smile. "Ally your dad's not home. You're gonna have to clean up here."

She nods her head, a little worried slightly. It's not a big deal. She can just hang out with Mimi and help her out a bit if she needs it.

But what would she wear? Her clothes are obviously at her house… Of course her dad had to leave without giving her a warning so she could get her keys.

"Mimi, I have no clothes to wear." She tells her biting her lip.

"Oh no big deal." She assures her. "You can borrow some of Austin's."

* * *

She sits awkwardly on the couch, trying to keep the shirt she's wearing to cover her legs since she's not wearing pants but only _tiny_ jean shorts. Luckily for Ally one of Austin's girl cousins had left a pair of shorts at their house one day when she was swimming and they were a perfect fit –minus the length.

The shirt though she's wearing, is unfortunately Austin's. According to Mimi it's one of his favorite plaid shirts –considering he hadn't cut the sleeves off of it yet. He had apparently specifically picked it out for her to wear.

And she's brought back to her thoughts from the baseball game. Why does it feel like Austin's trying to mark her as _his_ without actually doing so?

She has so many questions that need answers. And she's determined to get the answers. Maybe she won't get answers tonight, but she knows at some point she will. She's going to get answers even if it kills her.

Mimi and Austin both enter the room, snapping her out of thoughts and her breath catches slightly. Austin's hair is still wet, and he's not wearing a shirt.

"You know I was going to actually wear that shirt tonight." He tells her with a chuckle.

"Do you want it back?" she asks. He wouldn't have given it to her if he didn't want to though.

"No, no. You wear it." The blonde says before sending her a wink as he says. "You're gonna need something to wear when I take you out to town tonight."

He's taking her out? He's taking her out. He's taking her out!

Why is he taking her out? She's suddenly excited, but also worried. What if this is just some trick so he can have more reasons to be a jerk to her?

But maybe it's not a trick. Maybe he's genuinely being nice to her. She could possibly get some answers to her questions out of him.

It still feels slightly risky going out with him though… And for god sakes he expects her to go out with no makeup on and wearing his shirt? By the look on his face she can tell, _yes_, he does expect her to go out like how she is.

"Is it just you and me?" she asks biting her lip nervous, a bad habit she has yet to break.

"Don't worry, Trish and Cassidy will be there too." He says shaking his head and rolling his eyes, at her worriment.

Okay maybe this night out won't be too bad…

* * *

They climb into his truck -that had thankfully been fixed the day prior- and are instantly hit with silence. At least when they were at the house, Mimi helped fill the silence. But now it's just them.

Ally decides this will be a good chance to ask Austin some questions, so she's actually quite glad they're alone. She's just hoping Austin doesn't snap at her for any of the questions, or just completely blow her off and ignore her.

She's partly scared for the reactions she's going to receive by showing up in Austin's shirt. But then at the same time, she isn't scared. If Austin is going to let her wear _his_ shirt out with _his_ friends, she won't object.

It keeps running through her mind that maybe Austin is also attracted to her, and that's why he's letting her wear his stuff. But she isn't entirely sure if that's why. Especially since Mimi had said their whole family was at her birth.

Austin has a secret, a huge one that he was keeping from Ally. She could tell. And she's going to get him to tell her. If she's right about her thoughts on the secret, then it has all to do with him being at her birth.

"So how do you know Cassidy and Trish?" Ally asks causally, keeping the questions simple at first.

"I've gone to school with the both of them for awhile and just sorta developed friendships with them. Same with Dez." He replies, his grip tightening on the wheel as he continues. "I had another best friend up until I was eight when they moved away. And then Dez happened to move here that same year, and Cassidy and Trish moved here after him. Each moved here a few months or years apart."

She nods her head and absent mindedly picks at her nails. Well that's one question out of the way, and now they're back to the awkward silence.

There's this voice in the back of her head telling her to ask him about his old best friend. Ask whether it was a boy or girl. Ask their name. Why they moved. Just asking something about them.

But she doesn't. And she _won't_ ask. Not now. Not until they become friends like she wants to.

"How'd you know that people back in Miami think I'm a slut?" she asks bluntly.

She slightly shocks him with the question and he's not sure if he should answer or not. There's a split second where he knows it would probably be best to go ahead and tell her, tell her the truth. The whole story. But he won't.

"Your dad told me." He mutters awkwardly.

Her dad told him? Wow. She's not sure if she's shocked or not.

She had no clue honestly that her father had known about that, she figures some other parent or maybe some student who hated her told him. But she's not a slut. She there has been and never will be.

"I know you're not actually a slut." the blonde whispers. It was such a quiet whisper she didn't know if she was supposed to hear it or not.

"Then why did you call me one?" she questions.

There's a long pause, and then a sigh. But then he finally answers. "I have reasons behind every single thing I say to you. Don't worry about it, sweetheart."

* * *

**Reviews are sorta _very_ cool.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N so update anybody? And hi Kristen, Karen, and Kendra I know you guys were waiting for this update so here y'all go…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize. **

* * *

They pull into a parking lot and immediately Ally's curious. After Austin had told her everything he says to her is for a reason they were surrounded by silence, expect for her questioning of where they're going which Austin of course ignored.

There's a building that Ally sees, it's wood and quite frankly looks somewhat like a barn. She's not entirely sure why they're here considering Austin had said he was taking her out to town, not some barn. Didn't they spend enough time in a barn earlier?

"It's a good thing mom let you borrow her boots." he tells her, as he opens her door and holds out his hand to her. Cautiously she takes his hand in hers, and jumps down from the truck, wobbling a bit when she jumps down. He steadies her putting one hand around her waist, laughing a little. "Hey, be careful."

Her breath catches as she looks up. Their faces mere centimeters apart. Not quite close enough to be touching, but close enough they could feel each other's breath. His lips twitch into a slight smile at their close proximity.

"So why is it a good thing I'm wearing your mom's boots?" she asks her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Because, we're dancing tonight." he states, his eyes shining with mischief.

She laughs, rolling eye hers, and pushes him away. "Too bad I don't dance."

He shakes his head, but doesn't respond. Placing his hand on the small of her back he leads her inside the building. What she sees inside though wasn't exactly what she was expecting.

It might look like a barn on the outside, but on the inside it's _definitely_ not a barn. It's a two story building; the bottom story a dance floor, the top story a balcony that wraps around the entire building with tables and booths.

"Cassidy and Trish will be here in about ten minutes." He informs her. "They're hitching a ride with a few of our other friends."

Nodding her head, she follows him into a booth. They're once again surrounded by an awkward silence, even though the music is blasting through the speaker system around them. It's still silent.

He purses his lips, thinking for a moment. They could go ahead and try to get the awkwardness out of the way, or continue being awkward. He knows she wants answers from him but she won't admit it.

And honestly even if she did ask, he wouldn't tell her the answers she's wanting. He has a plan for her. He knows she won't like what he's going to do to her, but it needs to be done.

His past is something he'd rather forget. But it all came rushing back to him at once. He's held onto a part of the past for a long time, but he _never _thought it would come back to him. Never thought he'd be able to actually hold it again.

But here it is. In his grasp.

And yet, he can already feel it slipping away once again. This time though, it's his fault. He's pushing it away. Not on purpose. But he is.

Pulling his phone out, he looks at the time. They're ten minutes late… Of course. He sighs as he sees the small brunette and blonde as his phone background.

Ally must have heard his sigh, because she placed her hand on his arm. He could tell she was silently asking if he was okay, but he just shrugged her hand off and shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot." Ally suddenly says, and Austin can't help but chuckle at her. "So let's start over. I'm Ally Dawson, nice to meet you."

"Austin Moon." He says a smile gracing his features, as he shakes her out stretched hand. "I'm gonna give you a warning sweetheart, we're going to feel awkward tonight."

She raises her eyebrows in amusement, but doesn't hesitate questioning him. "And why's that? Because we just started on a clean slate or?"

"Because we're going to be surrounded by three couples, and then there's us." He informs her.

And back to the awkward silence. Yup, he's right, they're going to feel awkward tonight.

Thankfully soon enough, everybody else arrives. And just like Austin said, it's three couples. Cassidy and some guy from Austin's baseball team, Trish and a guy Ally's never seen before, and the redhead Austin also plays baseball with a blonde girl.

"I believe you already know Cassidy and Trish." Austin says introducing them, before naming the rest. "Well there with Cassidy is her boy-toy Dallas, with Trish is her boyfriend Jace, and then finally that's Dez, my best friend and his girlfriend Carrie."

"Boy-toy? Boyfriend? Thanks for telling me guys." Ally deadpans, sarcasm dripping from her voice and everybody just grins in response. She's going to fit right into their group.

* * *

It's halfway through the night when Austin's finally tired of just sitting around talking and is ready to dance. Dance with Ally that is.

He's been turning down girl after, girl every time they've asked him if he would like to dance. No, he wouldn't like to dance because his goal tonight is to get Ally to dance.

"Come dance." He whispers into her ear. She shoots him a look and he can't tell she's thinking about it. "Please?"

And of course for extra help in getting her to cave. He widens his eyes and bites on his lower lip, trying to give her his most pitiful face that he can muster.

"That's a sucky puppy dog face." She mutters but gets up anyways, allowing him to lead the way to the dance floor.

They arrive to the dance floor and immediately she's nervous. She doesn't dance. She can't dance.

"I can't dance." she says in his ear, loud enough for him to hear her over the loud country song blaring through the speakers.

"Just follow me, and let me guide you." Nodding her head she lets him grab her hand and drag her farther out onto the floor.

His hands grip around her waist, and he pulls her close. The song is a fast song, not a slow sensual song so he makes her shake her hips quickly causing her to giggle.

She pulls his hands off her waist and intertwines their fingers. Pulling away, she stretches their arms out, before he catches on and pulls her back into him.

Turning her so her back is facing him, he pulls her backwards into him, causing her to giggle more. He spins her back out and any awkwardness or tension between them seems to not exist in that moment.

Their laughter's filling the air, as everybody else goes completely quiet. And as he spins her once more, he spots the reason for everybody's quietness and stops.

She sees them then. _Brooke and Kira._

Cassidy and Trish had warned her that they will do anything in their power to make you look horrible in front of other students. Especially if you had something with Austin Moon, considering the two girls were obsessed with him.

"Wow, this slut must have already got in Austin's pants, dang already wearing his clothes. Where is your class?" Brooke says venom laced throughout her voice, Kira and a few other classmates laughing behind her.

Instinctively Austin pulls Ally into his chest, wrapping his arms tight around her waist. It's like he's trying to use his body as a shield to protect her.

"Takes one to know one." Austin responds, moving one of his hands to grip Ally's hip.

Ally wants to make a comment about how Austin said he knew she wasn't a slut, but decides it's probably better to keep her mouth shut. She's already being confronted about being with Austin from people she's never even met; she doesn't need to get into an argument with Austin.

The comment obviously takes Brooke aback a bit. She hadn't been expecting it, which was visible to everyone. Her tough girl facade had fallen for a moment, before she collected herself once again and plastered on a fake smile, looking towards Austin.

"Austin, are you really going to defend the person you called a slut? Well I guess if it takes one to know one, you're still calling her a slut in a way." she says rolling her eyes, a finger reaching up to twist a piece of her hair. "I guess you could consider yourself lucky though, getting to bang the good-goody, hot church boy. He must have been good."

"Take me home." Ally whispers in his ear.

He doesn't listen. He pushes her behind him and hands her his keys, telling her to go to the car herself. Wait for him, he has unfinished business.

She looks at him, and his eyes are intense. It looks like he could lose control any moment. And that scares her. It scares her about as much as the fact that he's barely knows her and is sticking up for her and getting this pissed off about something said about her.

They share one more lingering look, before she stalks off towards his truck. The rest of their group that was with them stands there confused.

Pressing his car key into her palm, she closes her eyes tightly for a moment. She needs to collect herself. Breathe in and out, in and out, she reminds herself.

He just saved her from going off on somebody, she _should_ be thankful. But at the same time, she wishes she would have stood up for herself. Back in Miami that's what she always did.

But this might just be a reality check for her on one thing; she definitely isn't at her old school in Miami anymore. And a boy will actually stand up for her here. Because it's the gentleman like thing to do, she figures.

* * *

He sits quietly on the staircase. Listening in on a conversation he probably shouldn't be hearing. His name is mentioned often.

Words are shared between his mother Mimi and Ally about tonight; about him defending Ally and sending her to wait in his truck.

Ally explains how she thought it was sweet but she could have defended herself. He barely knows her, let alone why she has the attitude and shouldn't feel the need to protect her.

Mimi counters that he knows enough to _want_ to protect her. It's what he feels is right.

She tells the older woman about how everybody thinks she's a slut thanks to what Austin had said at school during a fight they had. He can hear the tears in her voice, as she recalls all the people as she walked out to his truck calling her a slut, bitch, anything to get under her skin.

He didn't know they had done that. It's his fault they're calling her that stuff. _His fault._

Maybe he had gone too far during that argument to call her that in front of the whole school. But he can't take it back, no matter how hard he tries. Besides he already told her _he knows_ she's not a slut.

There's a sudden pang of guilt that goes through him. He knows what he said goes with his plan, but maybe the plan is going to end up backfiring on him. He doesn't need that and neither does Ally.

Suddenly all he hears is silence, and then a quiet sound of a door shutting. He starts to get up, trying to get to his room before his mom comes up the stairs to go to bed.

"Austin, I know you're there." he hears his mother say, so he turns around and goes to her.

"Hi…" he says sheepishly. In all honesty he hadn't been caught listening in on a conversation since he was possibly eight. Maybe that old he could have been younger, but every time he eavesdropped before it was with _her_.

He sits on the couch looking quite like a puppy, which has been caught doing something it's not supposed to. But he does know he's about to get in trouble.

"Austin Monica Moon, you called Ally a slut?" she scowls quietly, trying to not raise her voice so her husband upstairs doesn't hear. "And you tell her tonight you don't actually think she is one? I believe you're sending her mixed signals."

Sighing, he looks down at his feet. He doesn't know exactly what to say. He has no good excuse. Expect maybe one excuse.

"This is all Lester and dad's fault." he mutters in a whisper, but it's loud enough that she hears what he said crystal clear.

"And why is it their fault?" she asks.

"Lester, he told me back in Miami people thought she was a slut. And that's what caused her to get an even worse attitude the moment she hit sophomore year, but most of her attitude came from leaving here." he explains. "He and dad told me to try and see if I could get Ally to break."

"Break?" she questions raising an eyebrow.

He lets out a groan, and runs his fingers through his hair causing it to stick up all over the place. But then with his voice cracking slightly, in the quietest whisper, he can muster he says something that breaks his own mother's heart.

"Have dad explain what they meant by break to you, I'm just doing what they suggested I do. Frankly I don't give a _damn_ how long it's gonna take, I just want _my_ best friend back. And I plan to get _her_ back, no matter what it takes."

* * *

**Reviews are sorta very cool. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N okay I'm sorry for leaving you guys on a sorta cliffhanger last chapter, but I'm back with an update! My life got somewhat busy and I had to write a few other things, and work on stuff for tumblr before updating. I'm hoping to update again in the next week or two but I'm not completely sure but with that being said I hope you enjoy this update, even though it is just a filler because the next chapter is when the story will start really picking up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize.**

* * *

Monday morning she walks into school; her head down, books held tightly to her chest. She can feel the stares from everybody looking at her. Obviously what had happened between her, Brooke, and Austin hadn't blown over yet. It's a small town, so she guesses no other somewhat exciting or intense thing had happened since then that's big enough to take the spot as the most talked about thing from the weekend.

She could hear the whispers going throughout the halls. Brat. White trash. Slut. Whore. Bitch. They were all being said about her.

Walking to her locker she quietly opens it, avoiding all possible eye contact with anybody. She feels breathing on her neck, but ignores it. There's a good chance she _already_ knows who it is. They've become rather familiar to her already, and they're exactly who she is trying to avoid the most.

"You can't be pissed at me forever sweetheart." he whispers, his hands coming to rest on her waist. She leans back into his chest, her head resting on his shoulder so she can look at him and give a look of disgust.

"What do you want _dick_?" she asks, clearly annoyed.

She had been successfully avoiding him since Saturday night. She didn't sit near him at church, wouldn't go out with his family, and absolutely refused to go to his house in the mornings to do work on the farm with him, even though it was her job.

"Can I not tell you what went down between me and Brooke?" he asks quietly, his voice pleading. There was a look in his eyes. One so heartbreaking it _almost_ had her walls falling. The walls she had built up to block him out since Saturday.

Her walls are weaker than she wants them to be. They're weak enough that by one look from him, they almost come crumbling down. It's something so different for her. She's _never_ had anybody be her weakness. And yet, _he_ is.

There's something so different about him. And she wants to know what it is. She does, she honestly does. But she can't find it out. If he is her weakness like he seems to be, then she can _never _get too close to him.

"I'm not talking to you about this." she says, before slamming her locker shut and leaving him standing there alone.

* * *

Later that day she's at her father's newly opened Sonic Boom store, and of course across the street is the store Mike and Mini own, Moon's Mattress Kingdom. _Of course_ it just has to be across the street.

And also of course Austin just so happens to be walking from across the street now. There's not really anyway for her to be able to avoid him now.

She could always hide under the counter, or run upstairs to the room her dad set up for her to hang out in. But she can't do that, because she has to watch the store while her dad's at the bank.

So since she can't do anything about him coming to the store, she decides to take the high road and act mature. No matter how much she wants to kick him in the balls and call him names, she _can't_ and she _won't_.

"Welcome to Sonic Boom." she mutters, rolling her eyes as he walks to the counter. "What do you want?"

"Ouch attitude." he tells her placing his hand on his heart as if her words had actually wounded him. "But I actually did come here to do something other than argue with you."

"Oh really. What? Try to get in my pants? Because obviously I'm such a slut I'd go for a douche like you. Isn't that right Austin? Or is that just what you told Brooke?" she asks her voice full of obvious anger.

He walks around to the other side of the counter. Grabbing her shoulder he turns her around to face him. There's less than a foot between, as he looks down at her. She's so much shorter than him.

"I just want to talk to you for a few minutes, _god_." he says not bothering to take his hand off her shoulder. "I came here today to-"

"Rape! Rape! Rape!" she exclaims, trying to get somebody's attention so they'll get him away from her.

"Damn it, Alls!" he says covering her mouth with his hand. She freezes and her eyes widen. When he notices her almost immediate change, he questions her curiously. "What?"

His hand is still covering her mouth as she begins to speak and so her words are muffled. He furrows his eyebrows as he looks at her, but hears no words coming out.

Suddenly he feels something wet on his hand only to realize it was Ally licking his hand, and he pulls it back. He takes his hand and drags it down her arm getting it all over her instead of him.

"Okay first, you said damn." she tells him, eyebrows raised. "And second, you called me 'Alls.' Only four people were allowed to call me that growing up. Everybody else calls me just 'Ally,' why did it seem so natural for you to say 'Alls?'"

"I didn't say 'Alls.'" he tells her in a rush, with an unsure smile. "Anyways moving onto why I'm here. First off I'm sorry with what happened with Brooke and everything and I'd like to work it out with you… over spring break."

"Spring break?"

"Yes, spring break. The group –meaning Cassidy, Dallas, Trish, Dez, and their significant others- are coming with me to the lake house my parents own, so they asked me to invite you." he says with a genuine smile. Without either of them noticing as he was speaking his hands had went on each side of her, caging her in against the counter.

"What's the catch?" she asks. Of course there _has_ to be a catch.

"What catch?" he asks dragging out the word 'What.' She gives him a look and he breaks. "You'll be staying from Tuesday to Sunday night, while everybody else leaves Friday morning."

And _boom_. There's the catch. The bomb.

Well actually Austin's more like the bomb than what he had just said.

A bomb who's trying to take down her walls. Trying to make her like him. For whatever reason he has, it has to be a good one to already be working this hard on getting her to be nice to him. To be the bomb trying to get inside her head and break down the walls she has built.

"My Dad will never arg-"

"He and my parents already talked. My parents and cousins -Scarlett and Travis- are coming on Friday and we're staying with them until they leave on Sunday."

"But I-"

"You like Scarlett and Travis, I know you do. And you're not getting out of this." he tells her, his voice firm. "Consider this trip a part of my apology for everything."

And then he walked away. She stands there frozen. Not entirely sure what had just happened. But all she knows, is she's in for one living hell of a spring break.

* * *

It's the next week, and they're all on their way to the lake house. It was a wet and dark Tuesday morning, from it raining the night prior. And Ally was beyond exhausted and asleep in the passenger seat of Austin's truck with Cassidy in the backseat.

The silence is comfortable and relaxing. This ride is hopefully a reflection for Austin on how this trip is going to be.

A few days with his best friends in the world -plus Ally- then a weekend with just Ally and his family. He feels like he might get some time to get in Ally's head a little bit. To start getting close to her. _Again_.

There's a small whimper and he's broken from his thoughts. He sees Ally shifting in her sleep, as she continues to whimper and begins to jerk hard. Pulling off on the side of the road, he turns to the girl beside him.

"Ally." he whispers while unbuckling both their seatbelts before gathering in his arms, as he moves to the middle seat. He gently rocks her in his arms trying to get her back to a peaceful sleep. He keeps whispering to her. "It's just a dream. It's only a dream."

Cassidy watches quietly from the backseat, her eyebrows furrowed as she watches the scene unfold with curious eyes. There in front of her, Austin was getting Ally back into a deep sleep without even once actually waking her up.

She had _never_ once seen Austin act the way he was acting. It seemed… _natural_. Natural for him to be able to get her relaxed again. It was something different for him.

Once he had gotten her to stop her whimpers, mutters, and jerking in her sleep he gently placed her back in her seat. He silently buckles her back in, before getting himself situated again as he begins to drive.

"Why did you know how to relax her without waking her up and what happened?" Cassidy asks not even five seconds after he started driving again.

"Oh crap, Cass I forgot you were even in here." he says, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "And what happened is she had a nightmare. She used to get them when we were kids so that's why I knew what to do. But her dad told me, that I'll have to watch her closely this trip because the nightmares got worse after they moved to Miami."

She watched the way his grip tightened on the wheel as he talked about the nightmares and mentioned Miami. He had obviously really cared _–cares-_ for this girl.

In all honesty, Cassidy had never seen him treat a girl this way. He had never even had a real girlfriend, only dates here and there. And she _might_ have just figured out why.

"You really care for her don't you?" she asks quietly, as they pull up to a red light.

"She was my best friend, of course I care for her." he tells her honestly, his eyes never leaving the sleeping figure beside him until the light turns green. "Always have and I always will."

* * *

**Reviews are sorta _very_ cool.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N and I present to you… chapter seven! There's a lot more dialogue in this chapter than in any of the others so just a warning but I hope you guys like it! The story really starts to build in this one. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or anything else you might recognize. **

* * *

Ally lies in the bed she's using at the lake house, staring at the ceiling wide awake. She couldn't get to sleep. Austin still hadn't gotten to his air mattress in the room and so she hadn't even turned out the light.

Their day had been pretty normal, with a few shocks here and there. Including Ally finding out she was sharing a room with Austin, but other than that it had been okay. She's pretty sure this will be her chance to actually _successfully_ forgive and forget with Austin on this trip, and get to know the attractive blonde better.

They had arrived at the lake house just after lunch. Ally had woken up five minutes prior to arriving, and she wasn't sure at all how during the ride she had grabbed Austin's hand or something in her sleep. She also wasn't sure why he didn't let go… even as she was awake.

The sleeping arrangements hadn't yet been decided when they arrived or at least not that she knew of, but Ally figured it was going to be girls in one or two rooms and boys in the others. But she of course had been wrong.

It turns out she was being stuck in a room with Austin. Supposedly orders from her dad. She wasn't completely sure if they were actually orders from her dad or not. Honestly she doubted it, but at the same time she wouldn't be surprised.

Austin and Ally would actually be the only boy and girl sharing a room. According to Austin it was because his parents only wanted those two to be allowed to stay in their bedroom till they got there. It wasn't that they hadn't trusted the other teens, they did, but they just wanted their room to be ready for when they got there so they asked Austin to have them stay in there.

He had already promised Ally the moment he announced the rooms, he would be sleeping on the floor so she didn't have to worry about sharing a bed. She was beyond relieved at that.

They really didn't plan anything to do all the days they'd be here. So until somebody came up with an idea they all decided to unpacked their stuff into their rooms –expect Ally, she unpacked into the room the girls were sharing, since it would become her room when they left and Austin who had clothes in his room that the boys were staying in.

It was already late and time for everybody to go to bed. They had a pretty relaxing day –minus the grueling task of packing. They hadn't really done anything other than chilling on the pier while they ate some hotdogs Austin had grilled. All in all it was a good start to their spring break.

Letting out a sigh she continues to stare at the ceiling, she sees there's small specks of glitter blended into the paint and as she begins to focus on one part, when the light is suddenly cut off. She hears the grunts and quiet comments from Austin as he climbs onto the air mattress all the way on the floor, and she can't help but let out a giggle.

And after that, it's completely silent once again.

Pursing her lips, she fiddles with her hands. Honestly, she's not tired at all. And she _hates_ silence. Typically she has to sleep with a TV on or music playing or just something that's making sound, so this silence is too much.

She rolls over onto her side, and then hears rustling coming from Austin as well. And then an idea pops into her head.

"Austin?" she asks, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "Are you awake?"

Silence.

"Austin?" she tries again. Rolling her eyes with a huff, she pushes the blanket off her as she sits up. "Austin?"

"Go to sleep Ally." she hears in response.

"Are you awake?"

"No."

"How are you talking if you're not awake?"

"What do you want Ally?" he asks, groaning as he gets off the floor to turn a small lamp on.

She turns towards him and immediately adverts her eyes to another place. She had _not_ expected him to be sleeping shirtless.

Adjusting herself so she's against the headboard, she thinks for a moment. What does she want from him right now? She feels the bed shift under her, and knows he's sat down.

What does she want? Well they're the only two people awake as far as she knows, and it's a quarter past one in the morning. And then an idea comes to her head.

So, she wants to become closer with Austin. Forgive and forget all that had happened their first bit of knowing each other, and get to know him. Become friends with him at the least. And this would be the perfect way to do just that.

"Since I can't sleep and you're awake," she ignores the glare he sends her way. "Let's play twenty questions."

"Isn't that a game girls play at sleepovers?" he asks, crawling up to sit beside her at the headboard.

"Oh hush! We're gonna do ten questions each." she tells him, slapping him on his chest. "Alright, I'm gonna start… favorite color?"

"That the best you got?" he questions, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "And it's orange."

"Like my bra that one day with the hose." she interrupts with laughter bubbling out of her throat.

"What's your favorite food?"

"Avoiding my comment I see," she says raising an eyebrow, mocking his previous action of doing the same thing. "But the answer is pickles. What about yours?"

"Pancakes. Okay so your dad owns a music store, so what is your favorite instrument? Because I'm assuming you play at least one."

"You assumed correctly, I play guitar and piano. But I probably prefer piano more. What's your favorite instrument?"

And that's how their night goes, bouncing questions back and forth. Somehow throughout the question, they had scooted closer together, and underneath the blankets with her head resting on his shoulder.

Most of the tension between the two had disappeared. It felt to Ally like they had been friends forever. And for Austin… it felt like she had never left.

The walls that had been keeping them from being friends were being broken down. The questions had gotten more serious after the first couple so they were becoming vulnerable to each other.

But they weren't telling each other everything as vulnerable as they may be. They were like car windows. Glass, and yes, mostly clear but still tinted so you can't see all the way in.

They're silent for a few moments before Ally asks the question that was hanging over their heads as her final question. "Why are you a douche to me at times but then, sometimes you're protective and then other times you're just sweet and fun like now. Why is that?"

The question is the most serious so far. He wasn't quite sure how he should answer it. Obviously he _couldn't_ tell her the full truth; that he's trying to make her fall apart.

"I just, I'm not entirely sure of that myself." he admits quietly, and he might not be telling the full truth, but what he is telling her is the truth. No lies laced through his words. "I guess I feel drawn to protect you because I know what you went though with your mom, and I guess that's why we kinda just fit together too.

"Thanks to our parents being friends forever, it makes for it to seem like we've been friends forever too. I'm not entirely sure if that makes sense or not." he tells her. "As for the douche thing, I don't know… I'm short tempered and so I might take it out on you, because I thought you wouldn't take it fully to heart."

"But I am taking it to heart." she says quietly, her eyes staring intently into his. "It does hurt me to hear those things, for you to know those things because my dad told you. And for you to use them against me, it does hurt and I do take it to heart."

He sighs and wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side as sleep begins to overtake them both. "I'm sorry. I'll keep it in mind that it does hurt you next time."

She nods in reply, and buries her head deeper into his shoulder as the sleep overcomes her completely. There was not another word shared between the two, but there didn't need to be.

That final question had said enough.

* * *

They don't discuss their late night at all. It's something that wasn't going to be forgotten, or act like it didn't happen, but it's a secret. A secret between only the two of them, so nobody else shall hear about it.

There was absolutely nothing said about how they woke. Head on his shoulder. Arm around her. Legs tangled together.

It was their secret. Something they'd be forever grateful for. It was that night full of questions that had _finally_ broken the line that was keeping them from being friends.

The days had passed by quickly and soon enough it was Thursday night. The last of them all together before everybody but Austin and Ally left. They had a mutual agreement that tonight they were going to camp outside. There had been multiple tents set up. One for every two people.

A bonfire was lit, and Austin was playing music on his guitar. With the crackling of the fire and the tune coming from his playing, it couldn't have been anymore relaxing and peaceful then in that moment. There was a simple game of truth or dare going on in the background and in all reality; it was just a cliché group of teenagers hanging out.

"So Austin," Cassidy begins, grabbing his attention away from his guitar. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." he replies before going back to his guitar.

"Okay…" she says thinking of a dare. And then it hits her. Austin seems to have been completely okay with sleeping in the same room as Ally so… "I dare you and Ally to sleep in the same tent, in the same sleeping bag or air mattress, which ever you're sleeping on."

"Okay." he tells her, with a shrug of his shoulders.

She sighs and rolls her eyes, at his response. She wanted him to at least react somehow. But he didn't.

Ally on the other hand she could see tense up slightly, only to relax once again. It was as if sleeping in the same thing together didn't bother them at all. And it just made Cassidy wonder about her theory even more.

"Ally, truth or dare?" said blonde girl asks, looking at the brunette who had just started playing on Austin's guitar.

"Uh… dare?" she questions unsure. She was only slightly scared at what Cassidy would suggest, but most of the dares had been pretty easy for everybody else so maybe it wouldn't be too ba-

"I dare you to kiss Austin." Cassidy says smugly.

All the color _completely_ drained from her face. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked at Austin. His face accurately mirrored hers. Both of their mouths hanging agape.

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath trying to calm her heart that's racing so fast it feels like it could run out of her chest. She can feel her hand shaking slightly, but then she feels extra weight on it.

Opening her eyes, she sees Austin's hand lying on top of hers. Letting out a sigh, he stands up and then offers her his hand to stand up herself. He gives her a look that just says 'Let's just do this' and she nods in response.

Walking behind him silently, she watches as he guides her to the top part of the pier where nobody else can see what they're doing. They sit on the couch in the corner and he turns towards her. His hand still holding onto hers.

"So we gotta kiss huh?" she asks with a small chuckle and an unwary smile. "You gonna actually kiss me?"

He can tell by the look on her face, that she isn't quite sure what to do. Whether she should run, kiss him, or just wait for him to do something.

"I'm not gonna kiss you." he assures her quietly. He can see relief flood her face and it makes his heart clench. But then her whole attitude slightly changes, and for a moment it's like their first night here never happened.

"And why not?" she asks, her voice shaking slightly. "Am I too much of a slut to kiss?"

Pursing his lips he grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him. His eyes are intense as they stare into hers, and her breathing gets slightly heavier.

"I told you, I do not think you are a slut." he tells her, making sure to emphasize every word as if speaking to a child. "And if I wanted to kiss you, I would."

"So farm boy will you kiss me?" she asks once again, almost as if she's challenging him.

"Not today." he tells her, laughing a bit. "But some day I will, _I promise_."

Her face grows hot at the mention of some day, and she has to bite her lip to keep from smiling. The look on her face causes a smile of his own to grow across his face.

"Why not today? Why not now?" she asks urgently. Her eyes dart between the two of his quickly,

"Because sweetheart… I'm too much of a gentleman for our first kiss to be in the form of a dare." he answers, as he presses his lips to her forehead.

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